Arms that once fuelled the wars in Indochina, he says, now have nowhere else to go, except in the hands of willing buyers in those societies with unsolved ethnic conflicts.

CNN: ASIANOW - TIME Asia | Asia Buzz: Rough Weather Ahead?

Places like Laos, whose territory is still littered with munitions from the hot wars in Indochina, will have difficulty meeting the five-year target for clearing up unexploded ordnance, let alone finding money to pay for it.

ECONOMIST: Cluster weapons

Presumably this means the alliance might set off to keep the peace in the Caucasus or rescue hostages in North Africa, but it will not be dragged off to fight wars in South America or Indochina.

ECONOMIST: NATO��s mid-life crisis